This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a convenient, tasty composition of matter and method designed to remove undesirable materials from the gastrointestinal tract by a united adsorptive action and laxative action by combining activated carbon and sorbitol.
The highly adsorptive properties of activated carbon (particularly activated charcoal) are well known. Moreover, it has been used to remove noxious substances and gases from the gastrointestinal tract, to serve as an antidote, detoxicant and deflatulent. In fact, quantitative adsorption relationships can be worked out between activated carbon and various drugs or poisons including strychnine, digitalis, atropine, morphine, bichloride of mercury, arsenite, iodine, camphor, etc.
One difficulty, however, has been the introduction of the activated carbon, which is manufactured as a very fine powder, into the stomach because patients have difficulty in swallowing the powder or water slurry thereof. This had led to it being encapsulated, tableted and/or mixed with excipients and binders to avoid the powder. The problem generally encountered in mixing the activated carbon with other substances has been the masking of the adsorptive capacity of the carbon, thereby reducing same for the targeted undesired materials.
Sorbitol is a polyhydric alcohol having many properties of the sugars including water solubility and about 60% sweetness of sucrose. It is recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administration by having been placed on the GRAS list. It is used as a sweetening agent, particularly for diabetic diets, and as a humectant to extend shelf life. It has a laxative action when consumed in large quantities (25 to 50 grams daily) which is believed related to its slow intestinal absorption.